Localization Markets in 2018.

January 21, 2018 Nima Henry

The process of localization involves adapting services, content and
products to a specific locality or regional market. It not only ensures
adherence to local languages, but also to local culture, political and
legal policies. In today’s world of globalized markets, localization and
translation services play a pivotal role in gathering new customer bases
across the globe. The localization sector has seen a rapid growth due more
and more businesses operating on off-shore markets. The net worth rose from
$31 billion in 2011 to $40 billion in 2016. It is estimated to reach $45
billion by 2020.

With customers now accessible in remote alien linguistic pockets of the
world, Localization services enable businesses to tap into otherwise
unrecognized markets. For example in the videogame industry, due to the
lack of multiple language options in games, racing games are more popular
in the Middle-East due to their simplicity of interface. The availability
of products and services in native languages show an increase in customer
reserves of businesses. Localization industry is diversifying itself with
newer technologies and approaches such as cloud based assistance to keep in
pace with the expanding industrial sectors across the world.

Approach to localization

94% of multinational companies are planning to increase their localization
budget in 2018. As translation and localization are tedious activities most
businesses choose to outsource the job to Localization service providers.
Companies these days often need to choose between localization and
standardization. If the usage of the product or service is relatively
simple and uniform then standardization is ideal strategy. But for diverse
products like online retail services, videogames, search engines and social
media platforms localizing most certainly leads to higher sales. Most
multinational companies are constantly increasing their market year after
year. This year is no different; one can expect a steady in localization
services across the industry. Most Localization service providers now
provide cloud-based services for smoother communication and translations.
The market is becoming extremely competitive as more and more Localization
service providers are utilizing automated software and database for their
services. Thus a booming demand in this sector is to be expected. Inc. Magazine states the localization industry as one of the top
industries for starting a business.

The upcoming trends in the language industry

When a company plans its global growth it situates its products in rapidly
developing nations. Asian and African markets have always shown a steady
growth in customer base. Hence, it is a must for companies to keep learning
newer languages. Localization services now need to hone their technology to
incorporate SEO in regional languages. Experts suggest that localized video
content will become even more popular in 2018. The conflict of subtitling
vs. dubbing still rages on in 2018. But recent studies show that viewers
form reading habits while watching videos. Most viewers prefer to listen to
the original audio with subtitles as they are watching a video. Online
courses and E-learning services will continue to witness a steady rise in
demands as they continue to localize their services across various
languages. In spite of cloud based features and advancement in database
management technologies, human translation is still the most trending
practice in 2018 as machines cannot grasp context or choose situation
specific words.